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| The London Assembly Environment Committee has
commissioned a review into the city's sporadic recycling rates. |
An inquiry has been launched into why recycling rates vary so widely across London boroughs in a bid to help the English capital become a world leader in waste management.
The London Assembly Environment Committee has commissioned the review to look at how waste is managed, at existing financial drivers and how the attitudes of local people influence how much gets recycled.
Over recent years London has made considerable progress in improving its recycling and composting rates.
At the turn of the millennium the city recycled just 8% of its municipal waste, a decade later that had risen to 29%. However, that still compares badly to other international cities such as Berlin on 41%, and New York on 34%.
In his recent Draft Municipal Waste Management Strategy, Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London stated that he would only be able achieve his goal of seeing London become "the best big city on earth" if waste is wisely managed, and the city becomes a world leader in waste management.
The strategy set targets for recycling and composting performance in the city of 45% by 2015, 50% by 2020, and 60% by 2031.
While it?s true that recycling and composting of municipal waste in London has improved significantly in recent years, the overall figure for the city varies considerably across the 33 boroughs.
Current figures show a difference of 35% between the lowest and highest recycling rates achieved, with only four boroughs achieving recycling rates above the national average, and under 20% - below the national minimum performance standard set for local authorities.
In general, higher recycling rates tend to be achieved in outer London boroughs, of the thirteen boroughs achieving rates above 30%, ten are in outer London. However, one of the top three performers was an inner London borough.
Research also suggests that the socio-demographic make up of the borough also has a strong impact on recycling rates, as can service provision factors such as type of system used, container types and capacities, and communication.
The composition of the housing stock is also an important consideration, with recycling rates for flats currently around 10%.
Gareth Bacon AM, who is leading the investigation, said: ?Recycling is one of the best ways for people to have a positive impact on the world in which we live, so it is important that we look for practical ways to improve rates across the capital by finding out what works and what does not?.
?Waste is a resource that we should be using to our economic and environmental advantage. Understanding the challenges and barriers to recycling will help us to do that,? he added.
The review will feed into the Committee?s work on the Mayor?s Municipal Waste Management Strategy, and a full report of the findings will be published early next year.
